I love seeing footage of Manoel Island. There’s the aerial footage showing it glittering like a green gem in the harbour. There’s footage showing the crumbling Lazzaretto metres away from the magnificent fort. There’s footage of those gleaming steps rising from the water’s edge – that of the vast sweep of the parade ground. It’s all captivating.
But my favourite shots aren’t actually of the fortifications on the island or even the sea around it. My favourite footage dates back roughly to two years ago when access to the island was reinstated after a long hiatus. It shows a little boy in a T-shirt and shorts and a cap holding his father’s hand. The father has a towel slung over his shoulder. You can’t see their faces, but it’s clear from the pace of their steps that they’re eager to get down to the water’s edge.
The image stayed with me, it stays with me still. It encapsulates what Manoel Island means to the local and wider community – escape, family, nature, recreation, retreat. It spurred us on to the creation by the Gżira local council and Midi plc of the Manoel Island Foundation, which would safeguard rights of the public as enshrined in the guardianship agreement signed last week.
When I speak of this agreement, I’m pleased. I’m pleased because of the resultant agreement which sees Midi binding itself through the deed to provide certain enforceable commitments governing public access to the Manoel Island public park, the foreshore, the swimming zones and Fort Manoel, as well as limiting the building heights of the residential units to be developed on Manoel Island.
The need for nature and a break from the intensive commercialisation of all open spaces has been recognised, and Midi has undertaken not to allow commercial activity within the park or structures to encroach upon it. The same undertaking has been taken in regard of the foreshore. Protected swimming zones for bathers will be established, with no marine traffic throughout. The casino idea has been ditched and the grand Fort Manoel will be a cultural and retail centre, not a hotel.
Solutions outside the usual big business/alienated community paradigm can be reached
These are a welcome departure from the terms of the original concession agreement signed nearly two decades ago, in 2000. They also differ from the more intensive proposals made later. When seen within the context of the legal rights granted to the Midi consortium way back in 2000, this is a welcome change.
The agreement is the product of perseverance and negotiation. But it’s also proof that solutions outside the usual big business/alienated community paradigm can be reached.
The crux of many of our environmental woes in Malta result from the fact that developers insist only on maximising their profit without any regard at all for other considerations, such as the creation of congestion, the increase in shadowing or the encroachment of open space. It is only to be expected that this causes resentment.
What would your reaction be if, for example, you found out that a widely publicised green open space forming part of a huge project was in fact only a subterranean shaft behind the loos, in the bowels of the earth? That’s a real-life example and shows why there are roilings of apprehension and tension every time major development projects are announced. Residents, whole communities have had to put up with great inconveniences without any form of realisation that they are also stakeholders in their surroundings and their environs.
And this is where agreements like the one reached over Manoel Island can be helpful. They could serve as a way of mediating interests between business and community to ensure that the pendulum doesn’t swing too far one way. We can move away from a business-takes-all situation to one which is beneficial to a greater number of people.
I hope the Manoel Island agreement model can be replicated in appropriate major projects throughout Malta. We need socially and environmentally-friendly businesses and developers to leave an enriching legacy for all.
drcbonello@gmail.com